"Is He Chowkidar Or Shehenshah From Delhi": Priyanka Gandhi's Dig At PM

Priyanka Gandhi was given charge of eastern UP, which includes Varanasi, PM Narendra Modi's constituency. She has not ruled out a fight against the prime minister from Varanasi in Lok Sabha Elections 2019.

Priyanka Gandhi joined politics in January, and was appointed general secretary of the Congress in UP.

New Delhi:

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over water from tankers being poured on the streets of Uttar Pradesh's Banda to welcome the PM despite severe drought in the Bundelkhand region. Is the Prime Minister a "chowkidar" or a "shehenshah" from Delhi, she asked on Twitter.

PM Modi will visit Banda this week for an election rally. Banda will go to polls in the fifth phase of general elections on May 6.

"When the whole of Bundelkhand, the men, women, children, and all living beings, are grappling with severe drought, drinking water from tankers is being poured on the streets of Banda to welcome our Prime Minister. Is he the chowkidar or a shehenshah arriving from Delhi," Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted with a video of water being poured on the street from a tanker.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, 47, joined politics in January, and was immediately appointed one of the two general secretaries in charge of the Congress campaign in Uttar Pradesh, the most politically vital state with 80 seats.

Priyanka Gandhi was given charge of eastern UP, which includes Varanasi, PM Modi's constituency. She has not ruled out a fight against the prime minister from Varanasi in the national election. Whether she gets to contest the key seat in eastern Uttar Pradesh will be decided by the party, she has hinted.

"I have said this repeatedly that I will do what the party asks me to do," said Priyanka Gandhi in Amethi today, according to news agency PTI. She is on a tour of the constituency represented by her brother and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and Raebareli, the constituency of her mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

Last month, it was widely speculated that Priyanka Gandhi may contest from Raebareli, though she had quipped, "Why not Varanasi?"

On Monday, the alliance between Mayawati's BSP and Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party named a candidate for Varanasi in a move that is likely to heat up the battle in PM Modi's constituency, as the Congress expected the backing of the Mayawati-Akhilesh Yadav combine if Priyanka Gandhi contests. But that backing has not been forthcoming.

After Priyanka Gandhi's entry to active politics this year, some Congress leaders commented that had she done it in 2014, it would have had a huge impact electorally.